At 4-5 in the 5th, Lendl had a match point on Cash's serve, & made a return error.

Cash held for 5-5, broke for 6-5 & had a match point on his serve. He made a 1st serve on that point but Lendl saved match point with a great running forehand lob.

CBS stats:

at 2-1 in the 5th, they had Lendl making 17 unforced errors, Cash 41.

Net pts at 1-0 in the 5th: Lendl was 7/8, Cash was 58/92.

here is an excerpt from SI on the match:

Having beaten Cash twice on grass, Lendl knew that Cash sometimes goes hours without driving his backhand. He flicks it but with little topspin, so the result is, said Lendl , "very flat, very strange." Cash also needs to learn how to put away a volley. Though terrifically quick and acrobatic at net, his first volley, especially off the forehand wing, is more of a push than a decisive punch. This inability to sting volleys cost him many key points in Lendl 's dramatic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 semifinal victory.

After Cash won the first set, Lendl picked up his service percentage and rolled into the lead. At 6-5 in the fourth set, Cash had double set point, but he made four unforced errors, slugging out as always. In the tiebreaker he led 5-3, but was caught at 5-all. Cash then was presented a gift when Lendl practically whiffed on a setup forehand and then lofted a return 15 rows back in the stands. Suddenly, the match was even.

This back and forth, Czech-Cash transaction proceeded through the fifth set. Ever the gambler, Cash hit a huge hook on his second serve at 4-5, 30-all. It missed—match point for Lendl . However, Lendl netted a backhand. Cash held, broke for 6-5 and reached his own match point, but Lendl converted Cash's tentative short volley into a lunging lob to the baseline to save his neck. Lendl finally took control in the tiebreaker by winning the last four points. Immediately thereafter, Cash hurled his racket into the stands, earning a well-deserved $2,000 fine. If the racket had hit anyone Cash would have been out a lot more cash.

Lendl played 9 semifinals at the U.S. Open and lost only in 1991, to Stefan Edberg. The remaining ones took him to 8 straight U.S. Open finals from 1982-89. His defeated SF opponents were McEnroe, Arias, Cash, Connors twice, Edberg once, and Agassi two years in a row. He defeated them all in straight sets, except for the four-set wins against Agassi and this match against Cash. Had Cash won his match point, he would have prevented Lendl’s record run of consecutive USO finals.

I had never heard about any kind of controversy associated with the match and its result; I had always simply heard that it was a great match. But Cash may have been cheated of an ace that would have given him a second match point, on his serve, at 6-5 in the fifth. He was close to being enraged when his hard serve down the middle was called wide. He went on to lose the game on a rare miss off his backhand volley, a stroke that also failed him once during the tiebreak and again on the last point of the match. He was clearly still thinking about the call. He had shouted at the center service linesman upon losing his serve, clearly blaming the man for losing his chance to win.

CBS did not replay the serve, so it’s not easy to tell. But slowing it down by 7x on my DVD, the serve does appear like it could have landed wide. So I don’t think you can say that Cash was truly robbed of the match; the call was too close to say that. Even if he had been, he indisputably let his emotions get the better of him, and could not get the call out of his mind. He seemed afterwards no longer to be in the same efficient and deadly state of mind.

Lendl’s behavior was a great contrast, even compared against Lendl’s own general record. At one point in the second set, I think, he got a clearly bad call at the baseline. He took his time in thinking up a protest. Then he approached the chair and said that this was the second bad call from this linesman; he offered that Cash had gotten a bad call, too, and that keeping the linesman in the match would cause trouble one way or the other. It was golden behavior for Lendl, and maybe the most diplomatic and fair-minded protest I’ve ever seen from a player.

True, the stakes were nothing compared to the Cash controversy. But the contrast in temperament is worth mentioning, all the same – particularly because late in the fifth set, Lendl did again protest a call with great calmness.

The announcers noted that Lendl was more confident since his French Open win. Newk said he had never seen Lendl so emotionally fired up as in the final tiebreak.

Cash looks as good in this match as he did in 1987 in most respects, though I don't think his forehand volley was as good as in his Wimbledon victory.

He choked, I think, at break point on Lendl’s serve at 5-6 in the fourth set; Lendl did nothing really special to hold then. Lendl, at that point, was having his own problems on the mental side of the equation: the announcers thought that he was affected by the crowd’s turning against him.

Some stats:

Each of the first three sets had only one break, which is a testament to the quality of play. The fourth set had no breaks (though perhaps Cash should have broken Lendl at 5-6). The fifth opened with two consecutive service breaks and closed the same way.

From his opening service game of the match, Lendl held serve 19 consecutive times through the end of the fourth set. The only higher previous streak I know of is Wilander’s 20 straight holds against McEnroe in St. Louis – a match in which the absence of tiebreaks made for long sets in which you had to sustain your level of play, or else lose the set. This was different: Lendl sustained his level even immediately after the first, second, and third sets were over, playing with great consistency throughout. He finally lost his serve to open the fifth, throwing in two double-faults and looking, for the moment, genuinely vulnerable.

From his opening service game of the match, Lendl held serve 19 consecutive times through the end of the fourth set. The only higher previous streak I know of is Wilander’s 20 straight holds against McEnroe in St. Louis –

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The winners of these matches never lost serve, all had longer streaks than 20:

Sampras d Korda, '97 Wimbledon 6-4 6-3 6-7(10) 6-7(1) 6-4

Becker d Stich, '93 Wimbledon 7-5 6-7(5) 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4

Becker d Pioline, '95 Wimbledon 6-3 6-1 6-7(6) 6-7(10) 9-7

Agassi d Martin, '99 US Open Final 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(2) 6-3 6-2

Sampras d Agassi, '01 US Open QF

Cash looks as good in this match as he did in 1987 in most respects

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I was surprised at how often he stayed back, esp in the 2nd & 3rd sets. Even Newcombe said he should be coming in more. He seemed much less sure of what strategy to use than in the '87 W final.

I didn't do net stats, but the unreturned serve numbers by set I think shows how more agressive he was in the sets he won:

Actually, Moose, now that you're bringing it up I found some old notes in which I did have a previous streak longer than Wilander's. Curren defeated Connors at the 1983 Wimbledon without losing his serve -- 21 straight holds (I haven't seen that one).

But that was on grass unlike Lendl's streak. On the other hand, it was against the best returner in the game.

From his opening service game of the match, Lendl held serve 19 consecutive times through the end of the fourth set. The only higher previous streak I know of is Wilander’s 20 straight holds against McEnroe in St. Louis –

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As I mentioned above, Curren held 21 straight against Connors at the 83W, and now I know of another one: Borg held 20 straight times against Tanner at the 1981 USO.

That semi final day was probably the greatest day I had ever lived to that point. I had set my alarm for the wee hours of the morning and was still in the same spot hours and hours later. What a fantastic day of tennis.

I heard tell that after this match, Cash went to the locker room and destroyed every racquet he had.

Cash won 70 of 93 pts on 1st serve(75%)
He won 36 of 70 on 2nd serve(51%)

13 of the 50 return errors he drew were on 2nd serve
1 of his 9 aces was a 2nd serve

He made 1st serves of 5 of the 10 break points he faced(including down match point at 4-5 in the 5th)

He was 95 of 150 at net(63%)

Lendl won 69 of 86 pts on 1st serve(80%)
He won 43 of 76 on 2nd serve(56.5%)

14 of the 44 return errors he drew were on 2nd serve

He made 1st serves on 2 of the 10 break points he faced

He was 11 of 14 at net

I had never heard about any kind of controversy associated with the match and its result; I had always simply heard that it was a great match. But Cash may have been cheated of an ace that would have given him a second match point, on his serve, at 6-5 in the fifth. He was close to being enraged when his hard serve down the middle was called wide. He went on to lose the game on a rare miss off his backhand volley, a stroke that also failed him once during the tiebreak and again on the last point of the match. He was clearly still thinking about the call. He had shouted at the center service linesman upon losing his serve, clearly blaming the man for losing his chance to win.

CBS did not replay the serve, so it’s not easy to tell. But slowing it down by 7x on my DVD, the serve does appear like it could have landed wide. So I don’t think you can say that Cash was truly robbed of the match; the call was too close to say that. Even if he had been, he indisputably let his emotions get the better of him, and could not get the call out of his mind. He seemed afterwards no longer to be in the same efficient and deadly state of mind.

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rewatching this again, I was struck by how many bad calls there were throughout the match(you could hear Cash saying something to the umpire as CBS went to commercial at 4-3 in the 5th, after Cash lost a point in which Lendl looked to hit long. Lendl gave Cash an ace early in the 4th set even though cyclops went off. later in the 4th cyclops didn't go off on a Cash serve so Cash got credited with an ace even though the serve was clearly long but the umpire didn't call it - Lendl did tell him that when it was beyond the range of cyclops its his job to call it)

By the time of Cash being 'robbed' of that ace, I imagine he was a bit on edge by the many questionable calls that both players had received & probably thought any close call was the wrong one at that point. The umpire didn't overrule once in this match.

Cash won 70 of 93 pts on 1st serve(75%)
He won 36 of 70 on 2nd serve(51%)

13 of the 50 return errors he drew were on 2nd serve
1 of his 9 aces was a 2nd serve

He made 1st serves of 5 of the 10 break points he faced(including down match point at 4-5 in the 5th)

He was 95 of 150 at net(63%)

Lendl won 69 of 86 pts on 1st serve(80%)
He won 43 of 76 on 2nd serve(56.5%)

14 of the 44 return errors he drew were on 2nd serve

He made 1st serves on 2 of the 10 break points he faced

He was 11 of 14 at net

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Nothing too surprising here, except Lendl making his first serve on only 2 of 10 break points. His success on second serve overall was decent, though I wonder whether he might have gotten in less trouble in this match if he had put some more first serves in on break points.

From his opening service game of the match, Lendl held serve 19 consecutive times through the end of the fourth set. The only higher previous streak I know of is Wilander’s 20 straight holds against McEnroe in St. Louis –

As I mentioned above, Curren held [22] straight against Connors at the 83W, and now I know of another one: Borg held 20 straight times against Tanner at the 1981 USO.

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There are several other streaks up through 1984 that I have learned of since.

41 straight service holds by Charlie Pasarell to open his match against Pancho Gonzalez, 1969 Wimbledon, R128
Pancho himself opened with 22 straight and closed with 30 straight

22 by Hoad to open his US Pro final at Cleveland against Gonzalez in 1958
(Pancho had at least 17 himself, possibly 22 if he was unbroken in the fifth set)

21 by Schroeder to open the 1949 US final against Pancho Gonzalez
20 by Doeg to close the 1930 US final against Shields
20 by Gorman in a win over Laver in a 1971 Wimbledon quarterfinal (unbroken)
20 by McEnroe in a win over Alexander on grass in a 1979 Davis Cup semifinal (unbroken)

And one for the women:
19 by Margaret Osborne Dupont against Louis Brough Clapp to finish the 1948 US final (score was 4-6, 6-4, 15-13)

Since 1984 data is much more abundant, and I know of many service streaks higher than Lendl's.

The alltime record must by 85 straight holds by Isner and Mahut each.

Roddick held 37 straight times against Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon final.

Anyone know what Karlovic's best single-match marks might be?

We tend to think of service streaks as something that alltime great servers put together. But such records often have as much to do with the poor quality of returning, as the Isner-Mahut and Gonzalez-Pasarell matches show.

Stepanek broke twice, Karlovic just once. But there's contradictory information online. Some press reports said no one was broken till the fifth set; others that Stepanek got a break in the first set and did not break again until the end.

Each man served 39 service games, FWIW.

Stepanek might actually have a longer service streak than Karlovic, which reinforces the point that service records have a lot to do with the quality of returning. The match was on red clay yet Karlovic could only break once in 39 attempts.

Stepanek breaking only twice in 39 attempts is a totally different story, since Karlovic is unbreakable on any surface.